The Nasty Truth About ChaCha.com

There has been a buzz, well, more of a low hum, really, about the "latest and greatest" search engine. I am of course referring to Chacha.com.

The whole principle of Chacha (the search engine, not the dance) is that you enter your search term... lets say...cats beating up dogs...and a REAL LIVE person sends you the BEST sites pertaining to that query.

So I went to the site. I saw NO WHERE to find a "guide" as they are called. I finally typed in the search box "cats beating up dogs". The results I was given (by a person? by a computer?) either way, the results were, quite frankly, rather lame. Not to mention the fourth, sixth, and tenth results were SPONSERED ads, and had nothing to do with cats beating up dogs.

Ok, so just as I am about to leave, I see, in relatively small writing, "Chat live with guide". OK! I thought, NOW were getting somewhere. Although, it doesn't specify whether or not the guide is live or not, I intend to find out.

After a brief wait, "Nicole" comes to help me. She's pleasant, professional, but is taking a long time. Ok, I can understand that, presumably she's trying to find something that not retarded like the first set of results I was sent by the computer.

Then, with no warning, not even ONE result, she closes out on me. I get to choose- a happy face (great) a so-so face (ok) or a frown face (bad).

Guess she couldn't find anything NON-retarded. But she could have tried, which I don't think she did. So poor Nicole gets a poor. She could have at least said she couldn't find anything.

This was how our conversation went (I removed numbers after her name, which I presume identify her to Chacha staff- after all, I don't want her to get in trouble, I just wanted bully cats!)

Status: Connecting ...
Status: Looking for a guide ...
Ring: ...
Status: Connected to guide: Nicole(45385)
Nicole: Welcome to Chacha!
Nicole: Hello, How may I help you with your search today?
You: hi Nicole
You: I would like pictures of cats beating up dogs
you: and any information regarding WHY they do it please
Nicole: Ok, one moment please.
You: thank you
Nicole: Let me see what I can find!
Nicole: Thank you for using Chacha!
Status: Session ended.

Now, Google, yahoo, jeeves, ask, none of those sites would close out on me asking for such a mundane thing. But, maybe Nicole doesn't like cats. Or mean cats. Maybe she's allergic, so, since I have the option on my screen to go to another guide, I do. Lets see how this one goes...

oh...apparently I am no longer allowed to SEARCH with a guide. Little does she know, I'm a hacker at heart, and can get around their ISP blocker. So lets try this again. This time with a proxy server (since I don't feel like resetting my modem at the moment).

Ok, now, it won't even allow me to search that term. So I change it, lets try "cats" now. This time, I get Elisa, who also seems nice, but we shall see (remember, I thought Nicole was nice at first, too)

While I am waiting for Elisa to come up with something, after I specified I wanted those nasty dog beating cats, I look around the page. I see 8 sponsored ads, ranging from cat food to litter to Ebay motors? I didn't realize I could buy a cat on ebay motors, but maybe they are referring to jaguars and cougars, and not those small feline creatures. very interesting.

Elisa comes back to tell me she's having a hard time finding it, but is still looking. Fair enough. I think about suggesting doing a Google image search, but presumably, she's a professional and is there now (but I haven't asked). So far I've been waiting about 5 minutes. I did a Google image search and in 30 seconds had more cats and dog fights than I could shake a stick at! Oh, finally a result.

Not a great result, but definitely more than Nicole had given me. So hers my conversation with Elisa (who ended up being quite nice, even if she didn't find what I wanted, I still rated her the happy face, cause it seems like she tried, and she was nice)

Status: Connecting ...
Status: Looking for a guide ...
Ring: ...
Ring: ...
Status: Connected to guide: Elisa (20143)
Elisa: Welcome to Chacha!
Elisa: Hello
You: hi elisa
Elisa: What may I help you find on this subject?
You: id like some pictures of cats beating up dogs please, the last guide closed out on me for no reason
Elisa: Sure, please give me a few minutes while I search for you, thanks.
You: thank you
You: why did they close on me? am i not allowed to look for cats beating up dogs? i wasnt mean or anything, and she didnt even say anything when she closed
Elisa: I dont know, I cant speak for that guide. All I can say is Im sorry for the actions of that guide and I wont close unless I tell you.
You: ok, thank you
Elisa: It is taking a little longer, there are plenty of pictures of dogs and cats, but few together. Im still looking for you.
You: ok thank you
Elisa: you want them fighting right?
You: well, or maybe a cat scratching at a dog or something
You: something that looks like fighting
Elisa: Ok, the closest I have found is an image of a dog and cat on a bed, looks like they are playing. It is on the botton of the page, the second to the last photo.
You: ok, lets see it
You: hmmm. not terribly vicious looking
You: lol
You: ok, well, im afraid i kept you long enough, ill let you go, its ok
Elisa: I guess cats and dogs get along now.
Elisa: OK.
You: maybe so
Elisa: Have a great night and thanks for using ChaCha. For your convenience, the sites will remain on the page after we close.
You: thank you
Elisa: Please RATE ME. Thanks for using ChaCha.
Status: Session ended.

So, in 5 minutes, Elisa could not help me, and Nicole wouldn't help me. So I happen to go to a message board where I know I can find a Chacha guide, and decide to start asking questions.

I learn some interesting things. MANY interesting things, actually. The first is, that there is a HUGE amount of discontent in the Chacha community. Communication between Headquarters and guides is nearly non-existent. Guides are ONLY paid for the FIRST 6 minutes of a search - so if they go over that 6-minute mark, they ARE NOT PAID. And your next question...how much do they get paid for a 6-minute search - 50 cents! That's it! And that's for a FULL 6 minutes, the amount goes down, the shorter length of time the search takes. A 2-minute search pays about 20 cents, I am told.

Next, guides are INFURIATED that the Chacha "gods" (as they call HQ) removed the search with a guide feature from the main page. Remember how earlier I said I couldn't find it? Well, its not just because I am dim! The COMPANY made it (on purpose) HARDER to use a guide! Their whole marketing stance is searching with a guide. Live human intelligence guiding you straight to the information you need!

One of the guides told me that they moved it because of the number of pranksters that were harassing guides. I'm sitting there, reading thinking ' uh huh...what else did you expect?" Quite remarkable, at the same time they did that, guides started complaining about not having any searches. One guide told me that Headquarters had informed this was because there were more guides than "info seekers" as the collective searching public is called.

One very quick look at the alexa.com ratings for Chacha reveals that its not so much more workers than work, but work has PLUMMETED! In 3 months time, Chacha is down in rankings 57%!

So you couple the fact that this company is obviously being mismanaged, relying solely on word of mouth and some sort of "tool bar" they wanted their guides to get everyone under the sun to download, and not marketing in more traditional venues together with truly LOUSY pay, employees (I'm sorry, independent contractors) having to work for FREE most of the time, guides who do not seem to be competent to do a simple search for dogs and cats fighting...this is NOT a pretty picture folks!

There is a group of guides known as " the Chacha cheerleaders", led by a guide who is rumored (not sure if its true or not) to be related to someone who works in the Chacha office, who rally and cheer and post about great and wonderful changes, that quite frankly, most of the community doesn't seem to see or believe.

In fact, many of these "cheerleaders" have disappeared altogether (again, this is all hearsay, I cant vouch for the validity of any of this). But if your strongest supporters are bailing, doesn't that send a pretty strong message that SOMETHING needs to change?

So sorry, Chacha...Google gets my vote. Less drama and quicker results. Don't hit your head on the plunger on your way down the toilet!